Winged culprit steals wildlife camera

A wildlife camera-trap disappeared from a riverside location only to be rediscovered over a hundred kilometres away. But the thief's identity was captured on the footage recorded during the camera's incredible journey.

Roneil Skeen is one of the Gooniyandi Indigenous Rangers who set a camera-trap on the banks of the Kimberley's Margaret River, hoping to catch some footage of a saltwater crocodile.

"Unexpectedly our camera went missing, so we thought that it had fallen into the water," Mr Skeen says.

A few weeks later the Rangers were surprised to get a call saying that their camera had been found over a hundred kilometres upriver from where it was last seen. The answer to how the camera made this unexpected journey lay in the footage that had been recorded.

"A juevenile sea eagle came and took-off with it and made three [recordings of] 30 second footage," says Mr Skeen.

The recordings give a brief summary of the camera's epic voyage. First of all the camera is taken from beside the river. The camera takes to the air for a very wobbly journey with the distinctive markings of a juvenile sea eagle's wing flapping in view. Finally the camera reaches its final destination where the thief reveals its beaked face, pecking curiously at the strange treasure it has stolen.

Camera traps have suffered many fates while left alone in wild places. But this is the first time Mr Skeen has come across a camera that has travelled by bird.